Abbiati: "G2E is always a strong show for us and this edition should be even better after all these years of closures"

As G2E returns to Las Vegas this week, Yogonet spoke with Giorgio Abbiati, CEO & Co-Owner of Abbiati Casino Equipment on the company's participation at the major gambling event. In this exclusive interview, the executive details the manufacturer's latest products to be exhibited, how the company leverages state-of-the-art technology, and the current health of the gaming industry.

Abbiati will be participating in the upcoming edition of G2E. What will the company’s presence at the event be like, and what will the business focus on at the expo? What are some of the products the business is planning to showcase?

Abbiati is looking forward to a return to G2E 2022 in Las Vegas. We are pleased to welcome existing and potential new customers to Booth No. 3423 to see our state-of-the-art products and the unique secure casino currency line, and to personally discuss what Abbiati can offer to enhance your business. G2E is always a strong show for us and this year should be even better after all these years of closures.

We will be focusing on a mix of our live table gaming equipment including Roulette Wheels, Gaming Tables, Displays, Security Gaming Currency and Table-Shield Antimicrobial Layouts, together with new developments including our latest Sanicards: Card Sanitizing Machine.

What are the company's objectives and expectations for the expo? Will Abbiati participate in educational and networking activities within the event? 

As ever, Abbiati is looking forward to meeting customers again, and we are excited to show our new product developments alongside our existing high-quality live table gaming product portfolio that the market has come to know and respect. G2E is a very important show for our Americas-based market and continuing to expand into this geographical area is a very important objective for Abbiati.

What does this return to G2E mean for Abbiati, especially given the prestige of the event? What impact could it have on the company’s business strategy, in terms of conversations with clients and potential deals?

G2E Las Vegas is a well-established event in the gaming calendar, and Abbiati considers it essential that they maintain a presence to ensure that customers have an opportunity to view our product range and discuss new opportunities that may be available. From a strategic perspective, this can lead to new relationships, potential deals and new product developments.

We will have our senior team available, alongside our customer and technical support, to ensure that any discussions are fruitful and we can provide quick responses to any points raised.

Gaming is currently seeing a rebound from the pandemic but, at the same time, we are seeing growing economic concerns in many markets, such as increasing inflation and supply chain disruption. What are the main demands of your clients at the moment, and how stable has it remained? What’s your take on how the casino sector will advance going forward?

As you might expect, our clients are generally approaching the post-pandemic market with caution, hoping to rebuild their customer base and trading levels before incurring any major spend. Consumable items will always be required and orders continue. Elsewhere a number of operators are picking up projects that were put on hold due to the pandemic, so additional larger deal opportunities are now emerging. Overall we anticipate a slow but steady rebuilding in the short to medium term.

Abbiati will continue to develop and manufacture world-beating high-security gaming chips & currencies and live table gaming equipment for land-based, online and cruise/ferry sectors, and also seek to develop and source new products and technologies.

What new products is Abbiati working on, and what are some of the latest technologies it is leveraging? Additionally, what can you tell us with regard to how the company’s online live casino vertical is advancing?

The new Abbiati range of high-security gaming chips/currencies offers the Tie and Lucky 8 that can include Holograms, Holo-Prismatic and RFID Technologies, and will be available to view at G2E.

We received an excellent response to the launch of our antimicrobial Table-Shield layouts last year. Featuring Swiss-engineered patented technology, and treated with a biocide (silver chloride), they are proven to protect against microbial contamination in general, and therefore remain an effective product beyond the pandemic.

As part of the same product line, Table-Shield, Abbiati is proud to offer Sanicards: Card Sanitizing Machine and Sanichips: Chips Sanitizing Machine. The Sanicards product utilizes UVC light treatment and works with PVC cards and is absolutely safe to use as it is CE-certified and compliant to the standard EN 62471-2008. The entire cycle of sanitizing is very fast at around 2 minutes time for one deck.

The Sanichips – Chips Sanitizing Machine has been designed and tested to maintain safe gaming currency and to protect both players and dealers from further contamination. The machine can sanitize around 400 chips in around 15 minutes, in 4 phases - ultrasound cleaning, sanitizing, rinsing and drying.

With regard to our presence in the Online Live Gaming sector, our dedicated product portfolio Abbiati Online has been well received by existing and new operators.

We have had considerable success with our Roulette Wheels, which are GLI-25 certified and provide the option of patented invisible laser technology with five laser sensors to guarantee a faster ball reading as well as prompt identification and signaling of betting status.

We have also experienced particular interest in the Intelligent Shoe, which works with all makes of playing cards and offers a clear view of play via transparent machine housings; and also the Dice Shaker, which is designed with an in-built camera for both Online game studios and land- based live table game operations.

As a result of the pandemic, many operators have taken the opportunity to expand their business from land-based to online, so there is a definite cross-over for players and suppliers alike

Does Abbiati have further plans to participate in other upcoming expos besides G2E? If so, which ones, and what should we expect from the company in these events?

At this stage, we are exploring a number of participation opportunities targeting land-based, online and cruise/ferry sectors. ICE 2023 in London is the most obvious, and we hope to adopt our usual presence which was only halted this year due to the continued impacts of the pandemic.